New Delhi, October 7
Yesterday's self-immolation by a rape victim in Jind and gangrape of a Dalit teenager by members of a dominant caste in Hisar’s Dabra village have put question marks on Haryana’s sincerity in preventing the rising cases of atrocities against the SCs in the state.

With justice awaited for victims of the 2010 Mirchpur violence in which a 16-year-old girl and her father were burnt alive, data reveals that crimes against SCs are continuing at an alarming rate in the state. Cases of atrocities against SCs in Haryana rose from 303 in 2009 to 380 in 2010 and to 408 in 2011. This marks a 35 per cent increase between 2008 and 2011. Of the 408 cases registered last year, 60 concerned rapes of Dalit girls.

Dalit rights activists attribute much of the crime to absolute impunity for law in the state. Dr Sirivella Prasad, general secretary, National Dalit Movement for Justice, told The Tribune today that Haryana remained one of the worst violators of the SCs and STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The movement is helping the government amend the law for proper enforcement.

Inquiries by The Tribune show that Haryana is yet to declare atrocity-prone districts, the basic requirement under the Act. Declaration of districts as atrocity-prone is critical to preventive police action, which is missing in Haryana, as was evident in the Dabra gangrape case where culprits were known goons of the area.

Seema Mishra of the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, who was on a fact-finding mission to Dabra on October 1, said: “The victim was raped by well-known village “goondas”. But there was no sign of preventive policing. Such is the fear now that villagers have stopped sending their daughters to school.”

Under the Act, which provides punishment between five months and six years, every district is supposed to have a district vigilance monitoring committee to review crimes against Dalits. None of Haryana's 21 districts has this committee, show reports of the Social Justice Ministry. Haryana doesn't even have a state-level SC/ST commission and none of its 21 Deputy Commissioners has ever reviewed Dalit atrocity position in their areas before or until the 20th of every month, as the Act requires.

The state doesn't have exclusive courts to deal with Dalit crimes. “Between 2007 and 2009, the pendency of Dalit crime cases in the state remained around 74 per cent, the highest in India,” Prasad says.

Another problem is unwillingness of the police to register cases under the Act. Out of 408 atrocity cases registered in Haryana last year, only 150 were registered under the Act, which mandates special courts for speedy justice.

Sirsa, October 7
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Om Prakash Chautala traded charges while addressing public meetings at two places under the Sirsa parliamentary constituency today.

While Hooda was at Dariyapur in Fatehabad along with Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Ajay Maken to lay the foundation stone of a national-level football academy, Chautala addressed a “parivartan rally” at Madhosinghana in Sirsa.

Castigating Hooda on Arvind Kejriwal’s allegations against Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, Chautala said his party had already been pointing out that the Congress government in Haryana had been showering largesse on Vadra at the expense of people’s money.

Chautala said: “Hooda is in power at Sonia Gandhi’s sweet will and the moment he displeases the UPA chairperson or her son-in-law, he will be out of power. Our party is preparing a chargesheet against the Hooda Government by seeking information under the RTI Act and we will submit it to the President of India very soon.”

He added the way things were moving, the days of the UPA government were numbered and people could face parliamentary elections any time.

Ambala, October 7
An ambitious project to build a Shaheed Smarak (memorial) to commemorate the sacrifices of those who participated in the 1857 uprising, is far from becoming a reality.

The project, which was announced by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda about two years ago and for which the government had even acquired 22 acres of land near the local IOC depot and sanctioned an amount of Rs 17 crore, continues to exist only on papers.

A team of experts from Chandigarh and Delhi was also constituted for the project. Members of the team visited the site a number of times and drafted a plan to bring up the memorial. Following which, it was decided to hold a foundation laying ceremony of the project thrice. But each time the ceremony had to be deferred at the last moment for reasons best known to the higher authorities.

A senior official in the district administration said the memorial was to be built to commemorate the mutiny of 1857, which was the first was of struggle for independence. As discontent led to the outbreak of mutiny at Ambala Cantonment on May 9, the government was of the view that a memorial should also come up in the district.

The official stated that the almost all modalities to construct the memorial had been completed. A special team of artisans from Lucknow had also been engaged by the state government, but as the foundation stone of the project could not be laid, work on the project could not be started, the official said.

As per the construction plan, the memorial would be built up to 70 feet of height with a 20 feet boundary wall. It would house a museum where weapons and other articles used by the war heroes would be put up for display. The memorial would also have a library, a food and children court and other such facilities.

However, the land acquired by the government for the project has now been reduced to a dumping ground for solid waste being generated by the city.

Kuldeep Singh, a local resident, said the memorial site had been reduced to an eyesore and the state government should soon take effective measures to bring up the memorial.

Chandigarh, October 7
Forest and Environment Minister Ajay Singh Yadav said that the number of vultures at the Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre, Pinjore, had increased to 150 and these vultures would soon be released in their natural environment.

Yadav was addressing a state-level progamme organised to mark wildlife protection week at Morni in district Panchkula, near here.

Union Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Selja advocated opening a zoo in Morni for promotion of tourism and for protection and promotion of rare creatures.

Yadav said three zoos had been set up in Peepli (Kurukshetra), Rohtak and Bhiwani. A master plan had been prepared for upgrading these zoos on the directions of the Central Zoo Authority, New Delhi.

He said Haryana was the first state to set up a vulture conservation breeding centre for the protection of vultures. He said the main reason for the extinction of vultures was ciclofenac, a painkiller given to pet animals. He said this medicine had been banned in the state. 

Hisar, October 7
Beed Chikanwas village of this district has the dubious distinction of being populated on illegally occupied land.

Around 400 houses in the village are built on land which in revenue records is owned by the government.

The story goes back to 1955 when the then government decided to allot agricultural land to political sufferers at the rate of 12.5 acres each on a lease for 20 years. The government also allocated 63 acres of land for these political sufferers to build their houses on plots of 500 square yards each.

When the lease ended, the government got the agricultural land vacated by the lessees and took possession of the entire land. However, the government did not ask them to vacate the houses and gave the land given to them for residential purposes back.

Sometime later the political sufferers approached the high court for ownership rights of the residential land. The court ruled in their favour. Before the government could go in appeal to the apex court, the then Chief Minister Devi Lal decided to allot this land to the occupants at a nominal rate of Rs 500 per acre.

However, the government sat over the directive and did nothing after that. It also did not approach the apex court.

In 1993, one of the villagers approached the then deputy commissioner to get the illegal occupation vacated. The deputy commissioner assured them that this would be done in a week. Again, nothing happened.

Recently, right to information activist was informed by the administration that in the revenue records, the ownership of this land was transferred to the government in 1982. A 1984 entry in the record shows that the government also took over possession of this land. There is no record to show that the occupants are owners of this land.

As per the rules, illegally occupied land cannot be included in the lal dora. As such, no facilities can be provided in this area by the government. Yet, the occupants have authorised power connections, schools and aanganwadi centres.

It is learnt that a similar situation also prevails in Peeranwali and Bir Babran villages where too political sufferers were settled. 

Gurgaon, October 7
With around 200 of the 300 traffic policemen being dedicated to managing the expressway, traffic offenders in the remaining parts of the city are having it easy. Even as the traffic conditions in the other parts of te city are deteriorating, a majority of the force is on its toes managing the traffic on the expressway, coordinating VIP movement or working out alternative routes to abide by the high court’s orders.

Despite this special attention to the expressway, the policemen are yet to get their dues as the DGSCL has not paid them the amount for managing traffic, which is around Rs 24 crore.

The traffic police is planning to take this issue to court, seeking directives of immediate payment of their dues and easing resources for the remaining parts of the city.

With no police to man Old Gurgaon, HUDA sectors and extension areas, traffic signals, lane driving and speed limits have lost relevance.

While more than 30 points have been declared traffic sensitive that demand the presence of a traffic policeman, only 10 points have men posted regularly.

Hisar, October 7
A blood donation camp, a havan and prayer meetings at several places in the district marked the birth anniversary of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal.

A large number of HJC workers led by Bhajan Lal's younger son, Kuldeep Bishmoi, MP, donated blood at a camp organised here. Bhajan Lal's widow and former legislator, Jasma Devi, who incidentally shared her birthday with her late husband, was also present.

So were Bhajan Lal's elder son, former Deputy Chief Minister Chander Mohan, and Kuldeep Bishnoi's wife, Renuka, who represents Adampur in the State Assembly .

Earlier in the morning the family and admirers of the former Chief Minister gathered at his memorial in Adampur, about 30 km from here. A prayer meeting was also held there.

In Hisar, the family and supporters oif Bhajan Lal organised a havan at Bishnoi Mandir. Bhajan Lal's close associates from all over Haryana were present. 

Hisar, October 7
After two persons were killed in a road accident on the Delhi bypass here a few days ago, the district administration has prescribed speed limits for vehicles using that stretch of road where several educational institutions are located on either side.

At a meeting with senior officers, DC Amit Aggarwal ordered that the speed limits for cars be fixed at 60 km per hour and for heavy vehicles it should be restricted to 40 km.

An interceptor and a PCR van will deployed there to challan erring drivers. Road signs indicating the location of educational institutions will be put up on both sides of the road. All bushes on both sides of the road will be removed to improve visibility. Besides, the berms will be levelled to enable students to walk.

Amit Aggarwal also requested the Vice-Chancellor of Guru Jambheshwar University to allow students of other educational institutions to use the roads inside the university campus for reaching their respective institutions.

The General Manager of Haryana Roadways was asked to arrange special buses for students to ferry them from the bus stand to their institutions and back. Satish Balan, SP, directed the traffic police to ensure strict compliance of speed limits on the road. 

Karnal, October 7
Identifying absence of high-quality CCTV cameras, alert alarms, GPS systems in vans carrying cash, electronic lock system and frisking at entry points to banks and ATMs and casual approach of security guards as the main reasons for increasing incidents of loot and robbery in banks, the Karnal police has urged banks to plug the loopholes in security and put modern security gadgets in place.

The Karnal police prepared video clips of many banks and ATMs in the district in a “sting operation” to find out common security lapses and showed these “video clippings” at a joint meeting of police and bank officials to evolve a strategy to upgrade and tighten security.

Besides Shashank Anand, SP, Karnal, and Sunil Khosa, Lead District Manager of banks, 36 bank officials and over 10 police officials attended the meeting.

Expressing concern over increasing attacks on banks and ATMs, Shashank Anand said lapses in security exposed in the video clippings must be plugged. Shashank asked the banks to install hidden advanced CCTV cameras inside/outside branches and ATMs, make frequent checks of alert alarms, conduct mock exercises regularly, install the GPS system in vans carrying cash, avoid use of private vehicles for transportation of cash and must intimate the nearest police station and ask for escort whenever cash of more than Rs 10 lakh is transported.

Shashank said 45 of the 245 bank branches in the district were without CCTVs cameras, 76 branches had no security guard while 42 branches were without alert alarms.

Sirsa, October 7
Residents of the Ther Mohalla, an illegal locality set up on a mound having remnants of the Indus Valley Civilization, have been issued notices yet again.

Through these notices, the residents have been asked to vacate the mound by October 20 or else the authorities would demolish their houses after disconnecting their power and water supply connections.

“The encroachments from the “Ther” (mound) have to be removed in compliance with the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court,” said Deputy Commissioner J Ganesan.

He said the mound was of archeological importance and several notices had been issued to the residents in the past for removal of encroachments over it.

Last time, the authorities issued notices to the residents in January 2010 and a team of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) camped here for two days in its efforts to remove the encroachments.

The ASI as well as the Haryana Government, it was revealed, had to file an affidavit in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and for that the authorities needed to remove all encroachments from this centrally protected site of the Harappan era.

However, after protests by the resident, most of them very poor, the authorities put off their plan for the time being and decided to submit a status report in the high court.

Gurgaon, October 7
Too many cooks, it is said, spoil the broth. It’s precisely what is happening in district grievances committees.

These committees, which generally used to have five to 10 members per panel till a few years ago, now have scores of members in each district.

For instance, the District Grievances Committee, Gurgaon, which had less than 10 members till recently, now has more than 150 members.

The high number of members on the grievances committees not only leads to chaos at the committee meetings, but also threatens to defeat the very purpose for which these were constituted.

More often than not, members keep on bringing up their personal grievances rather than focusing on the issues of larger public interest.

“At times, the scene at District Grievances Committee meeting reminds one of a fish market, with everybody blowing his/her own trumpet, totally unmindful of the people’s genuine concerns and expectations from them,” laments an old member of the committee.

“We try our level best to ensure that listed public complaints are taken up on priority at the committee meetings, but we do ask members to put forward their ideas and suggestions...most of them are more concerned about matters of their personal interest,” maintains a senior official.

Due to such self-centred approach of committee members, the issues brought up by them are accorded undue preference while hapless commoners are forced to wait for getting their pressing grievances redressed.

Gurgaon, October 7
The booming and buzzing party culture of Gurgaon is in for a major change as over 100 pubs, lounges and discs in the city and around are set to lose their bouncers.

Following last week’s violence at MGF Pub, which left 17 students injured and a subsequent meeting with the pub owners, the Gurgaon police in a set of directives issued today has asked all party places to do away with bouncers and replace them with guards from registered security agencies.

The police, which had issued similar guidelines in March has now issued formal orders asking pub owners to abide or face action.

Claiming bouncers to be more nuisance than security ensurers, the police says it’s high time that pubs get some well-mannered guards.

“In last week’s case rather than controlling situation the bouncers indulged in violence and brutally thrashed some boys. Most of the pubs hire bouncers seeing their physique only,” said a police official.

The bar owners have objected to it saying, “Presence of a bouncer acts as a deterrent in curtailing the violence. The customers we get are out to create trouble only and its only bouncers who control them. In absence of bouncers, things will really go out of hand. The police is just doing so to wash its hands off the situation,” said a lounge owner.

Meanwhile, the directive has also asked the pubs to replace dingy entrances with bright lights to aid in CCTV recordings, ensure enough number of cameras, proper uniform and records of their visitors. Police Commissioner KK Sindhu in a meeting held on Thursday warned the city's pub owners that if case of any brawl or violence, the owner and manager of the pub concerned will also be booked.

Sirsa, October 7
Legal Aid Clinics would be set up in all high and senior secondary schools in the district with an aim to create awareness among children on legal issues.

District and Sessions Judge Subhash Goyal, who is also the chairman of the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), said the legal awareness would go a long way in making children better citizens.

Goyal was addressing lawyers and para legal volunteers during the annual district level convention of the DLSA here yesterday.

He said the Haryana State Legal Services Authority had raised the income limit of those, who were entitled to get free legal aid.

“Now, people with annual income of less than Rs 1.5 lakh can get free services of advocates and other concessions while filing or defending a suit,” he said.

Harish Gupta, Chief Judicial Magistrate and Secretary of the DLSA, said legal aid clinics had been set up in 1,444 schools and 171 colleges in Haryana.

Students of JCD Vidyapeeth presented a skit on female foeticide, while films on legal awareness were also shown to the participants. 

Gurgaon, October 7
The directive of the Haryana Government asking Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) in Rohtak to shut down its more than 11,000 study centres has left private institutes elated as they are out to cash in on the opportunity.

Over 50 private institutes or deemed universities in and around Gurgaon have not only dished out several correspondence courses but also moved proposals to get permission for opening their own off-campus study centres in areas where MDU is set to shut shop.

The institutions which have for long confined their correspondence courses to professional ones will now dish out bachelors degrees in arts, commerce, computer applications on the lines of MDU. “After we were approached by students looking for an alternative, we decided to go in for this. Thousands of students will be left stranded after closure of MDU centres. We have contacted the UGC for permission but it is too early to say anything,” said the director of a Sohna-based institute.

Interestingly, while the institutes are copying MDU in terms of the location of centres and the nature of courses, the fee is expected to be five times that of MDU.

The key target for these institutions is students in the middle of their courses as there is no clarity about their fate so far.

The government last month passed a Bill in the Assembly amending the MDU Act of 1975, effectively closing down the study centres of its Directorate of Distance Education (DDE). It said the centres were not required any more as state has developed a sound institutional network with 30 universities and 693 colleges.

Sonepat, October 7
The Sonepat police has recovered looted and stolen property worth more than Rs 3.60 crore and arrested 17 most wanted criminals, 66 proclaimed offenders and three bail jumpers till the end of September this year.

According to police spokesman Ramesh Dalal, the recovery included Rs 2.57 crore from 309 cases of theft, 140 vehicles costing around Rs 1.22 crore, Rs 97.74 lakh in eight cases of dacoity, Rs 93.70 lakh in 17 cases of loot and more than Rs 5.53 lakh in 14 cases of snatching. Under the Excise Act, police arrested 629 persons and seized 4,356 bottles of IMFL in 621 cases registered under the Act.

Under the Arms Act, the police registered 155 cases and arrested 158 persons. As many as 128 country-made pistols, three guns, one revolver, 68 rounds of ammunition and 25 knives were seized from their possession by the police, he added. In 150 cases registered under the Gambling Act, 287 persons were arrested and cash amounting to Rs 8.78 lakh was seized from them.

Kurukshetra, October 7
The police has arrested two persons for allegedly stealing gas from LPG cylinders loaded in a truck in near Varaich Dhaba under the Ismailabad police station in the district yesterday. However, two others managed to escape from the spot.

District police chief Rakesh Kumar Arya today said the arrested persons had been identified as truck drivers Manana Ali, a resident of Chasana in Jammu, and Vikas, a resident of Gulyana in Kaithal district. Truck owner Maansa Ali, a resident of Chandigarh, and dhaba owner Preetpal Varaich managed to escape during the police raid, he added.

Arya said the police had seized two trucks, one loaded with filled LPG cylinders and another with empty LPG cylinders and 10 filled, three big and seven small LPG cylinders from near the trucks.

The arrested persons were produced in the court here today and remanded to judicial custody, Arya added.